I think Raffles was saying that Tolkien taught it and that was why his own efforts are so dry and awfully dull.

Harry potter sucks - it's so incredibly mediocre, and the films are even worse - that kid couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. There are many many children's books which are far far better, especially for adults as well as kids (like Pratchett's and A Series of Unfortunate Events).

I also think the Harry POtter books are pretty sweet! :D
my favorite is the third one...Prisoner of Azkaban...
SIRIUS is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! :kosta:

I also start reading HP before it actually became famous...It is more or less mediocore serie and a little too childish for me.And I REALLY dont understand why there is so much fuss around it :blink:
I dont like LOTR either.It is boring and dry, especially thanks to four pages description-one page story style Tolkien wrote it. :yawn:

I am doing a degree in English Lit as well, so the stuff I read is probably quite different from what "normal" people read.

I am big fan of Scottish Lit (I know, they talk funny, but a lot of them can actually write quite well) and would definetely recommend Iain (M.) Banks. He calls himself Iain Banks when writing "regular" fiction, of which I would strongly recommend The Bridge and to a lesser extent The Wasp Factory. For some reason he calls himself Iain M. Banks when writing science fiction, of which I would strongly recommend Consider Phlebas, Feersum Enjin and maybe The Player of Games.
One of my alltime favourites is Alan Warner: Morvern Callar.

Looking at American Lit, I seem to be one of the few people who liked Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club better than the movie version. The short stories of Edgar Allan Poe still rock today.

When it comes to German Lit, I would very strongly recommend anything from Franz Kafka, especially Die Verwandlung/The Metamorphosis and Der Proceß/The Trial.
I'd also strongly recommend Erich Maria Remarque: Im Westen Nichts Neues/All Quite on the Western Front which is just breathtaking.
In both cases, I am not sure how well the English translations are, though.

Anyway, I would strongly recommend to anyone to read at all, what you actually read is secondary in my opinion. ;)

Ive never heard of any of those!! i feel dumb-founded :blink: :blink:
But i have heard of Edgar Allen Poe
HES AWESOME i love Cask of Amontillado, The LAke,and Tell-Tale Heart are sum of my favs!! :D

I fully agree with you.Both Kafka and Remarque are awesome :w00t: :kosta: :kosta: :kosta:
I like Kafka more than Remarque.All Kafkas books/novels are very good(and often weird :blink: ) but the only Remarques books I like are All quite on the Western Front and Three Friends?-dont know exact translation into english/deutsh(I really hope it is from him LOL )

once again.... :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink:
LOL

But you have certainly seen the movie version of Fight Club (Brad Pitt, Edward Norton)?

If not [Kiefer Sutherland voice]DO IT! DO IT, NOW!!![/Kiefer Sutherland voice] (Or even better: read the book. ;))

Ohh yeh!
Ive seen that movie!! It was cool! :ok:
kinda weird though... :whistle:

omq and drumminfreek, that's only the books on the bookcases in my computer room. And I agree, golden dawn and harry potter = seriously conflicting systems.

Troubled